house speaker john boehner wants a deal on spending cuts. president obama says that is not enough. >> if we're serious about reducing the deficit we have to combine cuts with revenue. >> joining us is jonathan strong. even if tax rates went up on the wealthiest households earning more than $250,000 a year the president, as the president demands, this would actually do almost nothing to reduce the deficit. i look at the joint tax committee report of conscious saying it would reduce the deficit only by 7%. that is 7% out of $1.1 trillion. in many ways is the president's solution more of an illusion? >> he is trying to sell this as a matter of fairness. he seems to be making progress politically on that front. you have a good point. another good question, there isn't any theory this would help the economy. the estimates are it would hurt this the economy. is now the right time for that? people are still hurting out there. >> gregg: the president is claiming, you heard him say this -- he has a mandate for raising taxes. i'll quote him. he said o